Linguistics

University of California, Berkeley

This is an archived copy of the 2017-18 guide. To access the most recent version of the guide, please visit http://guide.berkeley.edu.

About the Program

The Department of Linguistics takes a broad approach to the study of language. The department covers not only the standard core areas of phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics, but also historical linguistics, field linguistics and language documentation, cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics, and language in society. The Graduate Program trains students to do the kind of research that seeks to discover and provide explanations for general properties of linguistic form, meaning, and usage. The department has a strong commitment to language documentation as well as to cutting edge theoretical training.

Berkeley's graduate program is a PhD program in which students earn an MA along the way.

Visit Department Website

Admissions

Admission to the University

Minimum Requirements for Admission

The following minimum requirements apply to all graduate programs and will be verified by the Graduate Division:

  1. A bachelor’s degree or recognized equivalent from an accredited institution;
  2. A grade point average of B or better (3.0);
  3. If the applicant comes from a country or political entity (e.g., Quebec) where English is not the official language, adequate proficiency in English to do graduate work, as evidenced by a TOEFL score of at least 90 on the iBT test, 570 on the paper-and-pencil test, or an IELTS Band score of at least 7 (note that individual programs may set higher levels for any of these); and
  4. Sufficient undergraduate training to do graduate work in the given field.

Applicants Who Already Hold a Graduate Degree

The Graduate Council views academic degrees not as vocational training certificates, but as evidence of broad training in research methods, independent study, and articulation of learning. Therefore, applicants who already have academic graduate degrees should be able to pursue new subject matter at an advanced level without need to enroll in a related or similar graduate program.

Programs may consider students for an additional academic master’s or professional master’s degree only if the additional degree is in a distinctly different field.

Applicants admitted to a doctoral program that requires a master’s degree to be earned at Berkeley as a prerequisite (even though the applicant already has a master’s degree from another institution in the same or a closely allied field of study) will be permitted to undertake the second master’s degree, despite the overlap in field.

The Graduate Division will admit students for a second doctoral degree only if they meet the following guidelines:

  1. Applicants with doctoral degrees may be admitted for an additional doctoral degree only if that degree program is in a general area of knowledge distinctly different from the field in which they earned their original degree. For example, a physics PhD could be admitted to a doctoral degree program in music or history; however, a student with a doctoral degree in mathematics would not be permitted to add a PhD in statistics.
  2. Applicants who hold the PhD degree may be admitted to a professional doctorate or professional master’s degree program if there is no duplication of training involved.

Applicants may apply only to one single degree program or one concurrent degree program per admission cycle.

Required Documents for Applications

  1. Transcripts: Applicants may upload unofficial transcripts with your application for the departmental initial review. If the applicant is admitted, then official transcripts of all college-level work will be required. Official transcripts must be in sealed envelopes as issued by the school(s) attended. If you have attended Berkeley, upload your unofficial transcript with your application for the departmental initial review. If you are admitted, an official transcript with evidence of degree conferral will not be required.
  2. Letters of recommendation: Applicants may request online letters of recommendation through the online application system. Hard copies of recommendation letters must be sent directly to the program, not the Graduate Division.
  3. Evidence of English language proficiency: All applicants from countries or political entities in which the official language is not English are required to submit official evidence of English language proficiency. This applies to applicants from Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Latin America, the Middle East, the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, most European countries, and Quebec (Canada). However, applicants who, at the time of application, have already completed at least one year of full-time academic course work with grades of B or better at a US university may submit an official transcript from the US university to fulfill this requirement. The following courses will not fulfill this requirement:
    • courses in English as a Second Language,
    • courses conducted in a language other than English,
    • courses that will be completed after the application is submitted, and
    • courses of a non-academic nature.

If applicants have previously been denied admission to Berkeley on the basis of their English language proficiency, they must submit new test scores that meet the current minimum from one of the standardized tests.

Where to Apply

Visit the Berkeley Graduate Division application page. 

Departmental Requirements

In additional to the general materials required by the University we ask that you include:

Writing Sample: A writing sample is required of all applicants. Ideally, this sample would be a research paper on a linguistic topic, but it should in any event demonstrate the applicant's competence in writing analytic expository prose. The writing sample is to be submitted/uploaded with your online application.

For detailed information as to what we are looking for please go to our website at Linguistics.

Doctoral Degree Requirements

MA Curriculum

LINGUIS 200Graduate Proseminar in Linguistics1
LINGUIS 201Advanced Graduate Proseminar in Linguistics2
LINGUIS 211AAdvanced Phonology I3
LINGUIS 220AAdvanced Syntax I3
LINGUIS 230Advanced Comparative and Historical Linguistics3
Language & Cognition: Select one of the following:3
LINGUIS 205Advanced Cognitive Linguistics3
LINGUIS 208Advanced Psycholinguistics3
LINGUIS 225Construction Grammar: The Relationship Between Thought and Language3
LINGUIS 242Language, Cognition, and Communication3
LINGUIS 243Language, Computation, and Cognition3
Language & Social Context: Select one of the following:3-4
LINGUIS 123Pragmatics3
LINGUIS 150Sociolinguistics3
LINGUIS 245Anthropological Linguistics3
LINGUIS 250BSociolinguistic Analysis: Language Contact3
LINGUIS 250CSociolinguistic Analysis: Language and Gender3
LINGUIS 250DSociolinguistic Analysis: Conversation/Discourse Analysis3
LINGUIS 250ESociolinguistic Analysis: Endangered Languages3
LINGUIS 255Introduction to Sociocultural Linguistics3
Electives:
LINGUIS 210Advanced Phonetics3
LINGUIS 211BAdvanced Phonology II3
LINGUIS 215Advanced Morphology3
LINGUIS 220BAdvanced Syntax II3
LINGUIS 234Indo-European Linguistics3
LINGUIS 270Structure of a Particular Language3
LINGUIS 290ATopics in Linguistic Theory: Syntax3
LINGUIS 290BTopics in Linguistic Theory: Semantics3
LINGUIS 290DTopics in Linguistic Theory: Pragmatics3
LINGUIS 290ETopics in Linguistic Theory: Phonology3
LINGUIS 290FTopics in Linguistic Theory: Diachronic Linguistics3
LINGUIS 290HTopics in Linguistic Theory: Linguistic Reconstruction3
LINGUIS 290LAdditional Seminar on Special Topics to Be Announced3
LINGUIS 290MTopics in Linguistic Theory: Psycholinguistics3
LINGUIS 290RCourse Not Available3

PhD Curriculum

LINGUIS 201Advanced Graduate Proseminar in Linguistics (repeatable)2
LINGUIS 240AAdvanced Field Methods4
LINGUIS 240BAdvanced Field Methods4

Courses

Linguistics

LINGUIS 200 Graduate Proseminar in Linguistics 1 Unit

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Fall 2017, Fall 2016
Required of graduate students during first year in program. An introduction to linguistics as a profession, its history, subfields, and methodologies.
Graduate Proseminar in Linguistics: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 201 Advanced Graduate Proseminar in Linguistics 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Fall 2017, Fall 2016
The course is designed to help students become professional linguists by showing them how to write abstracts of papers, how to prepare papers for presentation at conferences, and how to prepare written versions of papers for submission as qualifying papers (and for journal publication), as well as to give students practical experience in the public presentation of their work.
Advanced Graduate Proseminar in Linguistics: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 201A Second-Year Proseminar in Linguistics 1 Unit

Terms offered: Fall 2015, Fall 2014
The goal of the course is to help second-year graduate students navigate the graduate program and develop professional skills.
Second-Year Proseminar in Linguistics: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 201B Advanced Graduate Proseminar in Linguistics 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2015, Fall 2014
The course is designed to help students become professional linguists by showing them how to write abstracts of papers, how to prepare papers for presentation at conferences, and how to prepare written versions of papers for submission as qualifying papers (and for journal publication), as well as to give students practical experience in the public presentation of their work.
Advanced Graduate Proseminar in Linguistics: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 205 Advanced Cognitive Linguistics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Fall 2015, Fall 2014
This will be an advanced course in cognitive linguistics. Among the topics covered will be cognitive bases for aspects of grammatical structure, cognitive constraints on language change and grammaticalization, and motivations for linguistic universals (i.e., constraints on variability).
Advanced Cognitive Linguistics: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 208 Advanced Psycholinguistics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2016, Fall 2015, Fall 2014
This is a graduate-level introduction to psycholinguistics. This course provides an overview of key questions and research findings in psycholinguistics. Psycholinguistics focuses on the mechanisms underlying human language production and comprehension. Central to psycholinguistics is the formulation of conceptual and computational models of those mechanisms.
Advanced Psycholinguistics: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 210 Advanced Phonetics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2014, Fall 2012
A reading course focusing on theories of speech production, perception, and acoustics as they relate to phonetic and phonological patterns found in the languages of the world. Students write 5-8 "responses" to target articles, and the class as a whole reads background articles and books that place the target articles into their context.
Advanced Phonetics: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 211A Advanced Phonology I 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Spring 2018, Spring 2017
Introduction to phonological theory at the graduate level with an emphasis on cross-linguistic phonological patterns.
Advanced Phonology I: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 211B Advanced Phonology II 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2014
Continuation of 211A focusing on topics of current interest in phonological theory.
Advanced Phonology II: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 213 Advanced Experimental Phonetics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016
The goal of this course is to provide graduate students with advanced practical training in experimental methods within phonetics. This is a rotating topics course. The specific techniques taught will depend on the instructor.
Advanced Experimental Phonetics: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 215 Advanced Morphology 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Fall 2015, Spring 2014
Examination of complex morphological systems. Issues in the theory of word morphology.
Advanced Morphology: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 220A Advanced Syntax I 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Fall 2017, Fall 2016
This course aims at developing a solid conceptual, analytical, and empirical foundation for doing research in syntax and semantics. The emphasis is on gaining familiarity with the central empirical phenomena, as well as core theoretical notions, methodology, and argumentation.
Advanced Syntax I: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 220B Advanced Syntax II 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2017, Spring 2016
This course continues 220A with an in-depth examination of selected syntactic and semantic phenomena and the methods of their analysis. The phonomena investigated varies with each offering of the course.
Advanced Syntax II: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 221 Advanced Logical Semantics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Fall 2017, Spring 2016
This course is designed to introduce graduate students to the core principles and empirical issues addressed
by formal semantics and to familiarize them with the analytical tools involved in the investigation of this
domain. The focus of this class is truth-conditional aspects of meaning and the compositional interpretation
of phrases and sentences. Students will develop skills in semantic analysis and argumentation by focusing
 on semantic questions that arise in the analysis of a range of different phenomena, including quantification,
the semantics of definite/indefinite descriptions, degree semantics, modality, and events.
Advanced Logical Semantics: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 222 Advanced Linguistic Typology 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2014
This course is a graduate level introduction to linguistic typology that covers quantitative, formal, and functional approaches to the typology of morphosyntactic and phonological phenomena. Students will be introduced to: 1) influential frameworks and tools for typological research including implicational hierarchies, semantic maps, and combinatorial typologies; 2) the status of universals in typology and formal, functional, and diachronic explanations for universals; 3) key topics in typology, including word order correlations and sampling methodology, grammatical relations typology, areal typology, and phonological typology.
Advanced Linguistic Typology: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 225 Construction Grammar: The Relationship Between Thought and Language 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2015
Construction grammar arose in cognitive linguistics from phenomena showing how thought structures language and how language also structures thought, and from grammatical phenomena that could not be accounted for by transformational grammars. Over the past three decades two major theoretical approaches have evolved: One based on embodied cognition results, conceptual metaphor, and the neural modeling of brain mechanisms necessary to account for thought and language; and another theoretical approach that is disembodied, purely formal, and uses feature structures and head-driven grammars. The course will discuss these and other approaches.


Construction Grammar: The Relationship Between Thought and Language: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 230 Advanced Comparative and Historical Linguistics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2017, Spring 2016
The scholarly tradition of historical and comparative linguistics. Methods of reconstruction.
Advanced Comparative and Historical Linguistics: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 234 Indo-European Linguistics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Fall 2013, Spring 2012
A survey of Indo-European (IE) linguistics, intended for general linguists interested in learning about the most fully developed sub-area of historical linguistics and for language-area specialists interested in how specific language areas relate to IE as a whole. All areas of the field will be surveyed (phonology, morphology, syntax, lexical semantics, cultural reconstruction, and subgrouping and diversification), with special emphasis on issues of broad current research interest.
Indo-European Linguistics: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 235 History of Linguistics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2009, Spring 2007, Spring 1998
This course surveys selected topics in the history of linguistics.
History of Linguistics: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 240A Advanced Field Methods 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Fall 2017, Fall 2016
Training in elicitation and analysis of linguistic data in a simulated field setting. The same language is used throughout the year. Linguistics 240B is the continuation of 240A.
Advanced Field Methods: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 240B Advanced Field Methods 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2017, Spring 2016
Training in elicitation and analysis of linguistic data in a simulated field setting. The same language is used throughout the year. Linguistics 240B is the continuation of 240A.
Advanced Field Methods: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 242 Language, Cognition, and Communication 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2015
This seminar provides an advanced introduction to the relation of language,
cognition, and communication. We will explore universal aspects of cognition that underlie
language and communication, as well as the effect of one's native language on cognition. We will
do this by: (1) reading a mixture of classic and recent papers on these issues, (2) identifying
interesting questions that are left open by the material covered, and (3) designing and conducting
research to answer those questions.

Language, Cognition, and Communication: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 243 Language, Computation, and Cognition 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Spring 2017
Seminars or special lecture courses.
Language, Computation, and Cognition: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 245 Anthropological Linguistics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2016, Spring 2010
Graduate level survey of anthropological linguistics which seeks to understand the role of culture in linguistic meaning, language use, and the development of linguistic form and, conversely, the role of linguistic form and structure in social action and in cultural practices.
Anthropological Linguistics: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 250B Sociolinguistic Analysis: Language Contact 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Fall 2008
This series of courses is designed to give graduate students in linguistics and related fields advanced training in current theories and methods in sociolinguistics. The five courses (Variation; Language Contact; Language and Gender; Conversation/Discourse Analysis; Endangered Languages) represent five major foci of current sociolinguistic interest. Students will be exposed to historical overviews, readings, discussions, and demonstrations of methods and will be expected to do original field research, the results of which are to be presented orally and in a 15- to 25-page research paper.
Sociolinguistic Analysis: Language Contact: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 250C Sociolinguistic Analysis: Language and Gender 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2010, Spring 2009, Spring 2005
This series of courses is designed to give graduate students in linguistics and related fields advanced training in current theories and methods in sociolinguistics. The five courses (Variation; Language Contact; Language and Gender; Conversation/Discourse Analysis; Endangered Languages) represent five major foci of current sociolinguistic interest. Students will be exposed to historical overviews, readings, discussions, and demonstrations of methods and will be expected to do original field research, the results of which are to be presented orally and in a 15- to 25-page research paper.
Sociolinguistic Analysis: Language and Gender: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 250D Sociolinguistic Analysis: Conversation/Discourse Analysis 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2012, Fall 2009, Fall 2007
This series of courses is designed to give graduate students in linguistics and related fields advanced training in current theories and methods in sociolinguistics. The five courses (Variation; Language Contact; Language and Gender; Conversation/Discourse Analysis; Endangered Languages) represent five major foci of current sociolinguistic interest. Students will be exposed to historical overviews, readings, discussions, and demonstrations of methods and will be expected to do original field research, the results of which are to be presented orally and in a 15- to 25-page research paper.
Sociolinguistic Analysis: Conversation/Discourse Analysis: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 250E Sociolinguistic Analysis: Endangered Languages 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2008
This series of courses is designed to give graduate students in linguistics and related fields advanced training in current theories and methods in sociolinguistics. The five courses (Variation; Language Contact; Language and Gender; Conversation/Discourse Analysis; Endangered Languages) represent five major foci of current sociolinguistic interest. Students will be exposed to historical overviews, readings, discussions, and demonstrations of methods and will be expected to do original field research, the results of which are to be presented orally and in a 15- to 25-page research paper.
Sociolinguistic Analysis: Endangered Languages: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 251 Indigenous Language Revitalization: Contexts, Methods, Outcomes 3 Units

Terms offered: Not yet offered
This course provides consistent engagement with indigenous languages, speakers, and texts. It gives an overview of historical and social contexts that produce language endangerment and loss; definitions and debates over terms and methods associated with language revitalization; ethical and methodological issues in language revitalization work; practical skills in language documentation and linguistic analysis; and case studies and outcomes in language revitalization.

Indigenous Language Revitalization: Contexts, Methods, Outcomes: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 255 Introduction to Sociocultural Linguistics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2015, Spring 2013, Spring 2012
This course is a graduate-level introduction to the major traditions that have contributed to understanding the relationship between linguistic structure and the social and cultural contexts in which it is embedded. The course focuses on the sociolinguistic variationist tradition and on ethnographic and semiotic approaches to language that emerge from linguistic anthropology, and examines the emerging coalition of the these two traditions in the field of sociocultural linguistics.
Introduction to Sociocultural Linguistics: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 270 Structure of a Particular Language 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Spring 2015, Spring 2013
An analysis of the language structure of a particular language. The language investigated changes from year to year.
Structure of a Particular Language: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 290A Topics in Linguistic Theory: Syntax 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Fall 2013
Seminars or special lecture courses.
Topics in Linguistic Theory: Syntax: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 290B Topics in Linguistic Theory: Semantics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2015, Fall 2014, Fall 2012
Seminars or special lecture courses.
Topics in Linguistic Theory: Semantics: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 290D Topics in Linguistic Theory: Pragmatics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2011, Spring 2010, Spring 2008
Seminars or special lecture courses.
Topics in Linguistic Theory: Pragmatics: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 290E Topics in Linguistic Theory: Phonology 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2017, Fall 2015, Spring 2015
Seminars or special lecture courses.
Topics in Linguistic Theory: Phonology: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 290F Topics in Linguistic Theory: Diachronic Linguistics 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2014, Fall 2012, Fall 2010
Seminars or special lecture courses.
Topics in Linguistic Theory: Diachronic Linguistics: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 290H Topics in Linguistic Theory: Linguistic Reconstruction 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2011, Fall 1999, Fall 1998
Seminars or special lecture courses.
Topics in Linguistic Theory: Linguistic Reconstruction: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 290L Additional Seminar on Special Topics to Be Announced 3 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2016, Fall 2014, Fall 2013
Seminar or special lecture courses on linguistic topics.
Additional Seminar on Special Topics to Be Announced: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 290M Topics in Linguistic Theory: Psycholinguistics 3 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2018, Fall 2011, Fall 2010
Seminars or special lecture courses.
Topics in Linguistic Theory: Psycholinguistics: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 297 Research Mentorship 1 - 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Spring 2018, Fall 2017
Mentor undergraduates in research on projects in the subfields of linguistics, sponsored by a faculty member; written report required.
Research Mentorship: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 298 Special Group Study 2 - 8 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Spring 2018, Fall 2017

Special Group Study: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 299 Special Individual Study 2 - 8 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2014, Spring 2013, Fall 2012

Special Individual Study: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 301 Teaching Practice and Instruction 2 or 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2014, Spring 2013, Fall 2012
Course may be repeated for credit, but credit for the instructional training portion is to be given only once for each individual course taught by a T.A. For graduate students currently serving as T.A.s in the Department's undergraduate courses. Two units of credit are given for the teaching experience each time a student serving as T.A. enrolls in this course; two more units are given for teaching instruction, this taking the form of weekly consultations between instructors and their T.A.s.
Teaching Practice and Instruction: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 375 Training for Linguistics Teaching Assistants 2 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Fall 2017, Fall 2016
A teaching-methods "clinic" for first-time Linguistics GSI's. Sessions will deal with the presentation of linguistic concepts in each of the foundation courses, the creation of homework assignments and examination, policies and practices regarding correction of students' work, grading, and feedback.
Training for Linguistics Teaching Assistants: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 601 Individual Study for Master's Students 1 - 8 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2014, Spring 2013, Fall 2012
Individual study for the comprehensive or language requirements in consultation with the field adviser.
Individual Study for Master's Students: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 602 Individual Study for Doctoral Students 1 - 8 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2014, Spring 2013, Fall 2012
Individual study in consultation with the major field adviser, intended to provide an opportunity for qualified students to prepare themselves for the various examinations required of candidates for the Ph.D.
Individual Study for Doctoral Students: Read More [+]

LINGUIS 700 Colloquium 0.0 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2018, Fall 2017, Fall 2016
Colloquium lecture presentations by Berkeley faculty and students, and invited visitors, on topics in language and linguistics. Department students and faculty offer feedback, suggestions, and critiques on work in progress.
Colloquium: Read More [+]

Faculty and Instructors

+ Indicates this faculty member is the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award.

Faculty

Christine Beier, Assistant Adjunct Professor. Language endangerment, documentation, and revitalization; Amazonian languages.

Amy Rose Deal, Associate Professor. Meaning, grammar, endangered languages, Native American languages, semantics, syntax, word structure, language universals, language variation, Nez Perce language.
Research Profile

Susanne Gahl, Associate Professor. Linguistics, psycholinguistics, linguistic structure, language production, aphasia and related language disorders.
Research Profile

+ Andrew Garrett, Professor. Linguistics, English, California, language change, Indo-European languages, historical linguistics, northern California Indian languages, linguistic structure, typology, ancient Greek, Latin, Irish, Oceanic languages.
Research Profile

Larry M. Hyman, Professor. Linguistics, phonological theory, typology, African languages, the Niger-Congo family, especially the comparative and historical study of the Bantu language family.
Research Profile

Sharon Inkelas, Professor. Morphology, phonology, reduplication, child phonology.
Research Profile

Peter S. E. Jenks, Assistant Professor. Syntax, semantics, linguistics, linguistic theory, Thai, sudanese languages, African languages, Southeast Asian languages.
Research Profile

Keith Johnson, Professor. Phonetics.
Research Profile

Susan S. Lin, Assistant Professor. Phonetics, articulatory phonetics, ultrasound speech research.
Research Profile

+ Lev D. Michael, Associate Professor. Linguistic typology, Amazonian languages, anthropological linguistics, language contact and areal typology, language documentation and description.
Research Profile

+ Line Mikkelsen, Associate Professor. Morphology, syntax, semantics, Germanic and California languages.
Research Profile

Terry Regier, Professor. Computational methods, language and thought, semantic universals.
Research Profile

Richard Rhodes, Associate Professor. American Indian languages, lexical semantics, lexicography, Algonquian languages, Ojibwe, Mixe-Zoquean languages, mixed languages, Michif, Sayula Popoluca.
Research Profile

Eve E. Sweetser, Professor. Subjectivity, syntax, semantics, cognitive linguistics, historical linguistics, Celtic languages, speech act theory, semantic change, grammaticalization, gesture, metaphor, iconicity, viewpoint, construction grammar, semantics of grammatical constructions.

Lecturers

Sherry L. Hicks, Lecturer.

Emeritus Faculty

Leanne Hinton, Professor Emeritus. Linguistics, sociolinguistics, American Indian languages, language loss, language revival.
Research Profile

Gary B. Holland, Professor Emeritus. Historical linguistics, Indo-European linguistics, poetics, early Indo-European languages, linguistic typology, historical syntax, history of linguistics.
Research Profile

Paul Kay, Professor Emeritus. Linguistics, sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, pragmatics, syntax, semantics, lexicon, grammar, color naming, lexical semantics, grammatical variation, cross-language color naming, the encoding of contextual relations in rules of grammar.
Research Profile

George P. Lakoff, Professor Emeritus. Mathematics, literature, philosophy, cognitive linguistics, the neural theory of language, conceptual systems, conceptual metaphor, syntax-semantics-pragmatics, the application of cognitive linguistics to politics.
Research Profile

Robin T. Lakoff, Professor Emeritus. Linguistics, sociolinguistics, pragmatics, comparative syntax of Latin and English, the relation between linguistic form, social and psychological context; language gender; discourse strategies, discourse genres, politics of language.
Research Profile

Ian Maddieson, Professor Emeritus. Linguistics, phonetic and phonological universals, articulatory and acoustic phonetics, African, Austronesian, South-East Asian and Sino-Tibetan languages.
Research Profile

+ James A. Matisoff, Professor Emeritus. Linguistics, Japanese, Southeast Asian languages, Tibeto-Burman, Thai, Chinese, field linguistics, Yiddish studies, historical semantics, psychosemantics, language typology, areal linguistics.
Research Profile

John J. Ohala, Professor Emeritus. Linguistics, experimental phonology, phonetics, historical phonology, ethological aspects of communication, speech technology, automatic recognition of speech, diverse behavioral phenomena.
Research Profile

William S-Y. Wang, Professor Emeritus. Evolution, psycholinguistics, language change, phonology, Chinese linguistics, language engineering, experimental phonetics.
Research Profile

Karl E. Zimmer, Professor Emeritus. Linguistics, history of linguistics, Turkish, word formation.
Research Profile

Contact Information

Department of Linguistics

1203 Dwinelle Hall

Phone: 510-642-2757

linginfo@berkeley.edu

Visit Department Website

Department Chair

Andrew Garrett

1218 Dwinelle Hall

Phone: 510-664-4087

Fax: 510-643-5688

garrett@berkeley.edu

Graduate Student Affairs Officer

Belén Flores

Phone: 510-643-7224

belenhf@berkeley.edu

Head Graduate Adviser

Keith Johnson

1222 Dwinelle Hall

Phone: 510-643-7617

keithjohnson@berkeley.edu

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